Deadpool and Cable Will Headline the X-Force Movie

2 years ago

With last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse set in the 1980s and last weekend’s Logan set in the year 2029, the X-Men franchise is not the easiest to keep track of. While Logan isn’t really connected to the X-Men universe, since it is set farther in the future than any of the other X-Men movies, it still has fans wondering what the future might hold for the franchise. Producer Simon Kinberg recently shed some light on this growing universe, revealing one key detail, that Deadpool and Cable will be the leaders of the title team in the spin-off X-Force.

That may not come as much of a surprise for those who follow the comics, where Deadpool and Cable were longtime members of the X-Force group, who take on more “extreme” missions than the X-Men. Deadpool 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick even teased last February that Deadpool will cross over into X-Force after the Deadpool 2 sequel. While promoting Logan in an interview with Deadline, producer Simon Kinberg reveals that there is an extensive plan in place for the entire X-Men universe, while revealing that Cable and Deadpool will lead the X-Force team.

“We are working hard on New Mutants, Gambit with Channing Tatum, Deadpool 2 and the new X-Force movie where Deadpool is alongside Cable and other main characters. Deadpool 2 is going into production this year. Then X Force which is a combination of Deadpool, and Cable, they’re like the Black ops of the X-Men. They’re much darker and have an R-rated decibel. There are other X-Men characters coming into X-Force at different times in the comic, but it’s separate from X-Men. There is a larger architecture to tell these stories in. I talk to the studio all the time about this and there is a plan for how these movies can connect and be a part of a larger narrative. It’s something that’s fun, exciting and it will be interesting to see how we marry the different tones that we’ve been generating in these standalone movies of the X-Men universe. But we go into making the best movie we can. It’s not just about a Colossus or Deadpool cameo. Connecting all of these movies will happen when it organically makes sense. These movies aren’t simply being built as stepping stones to a larger story. Each one is wholly enclosed and a movie worth seeing.”

Simon Kinberg revealed in May that 20th Century Fox would be open to an R-rated X-Force movie, which certainly isn’t surprising coming in the wake of Deadpool and Logan’s success. There has been no indication if Gambit or The New Mutants would be crafted as R-rated movies, but given the fact that The New Mutants centers on younger characters, it may not be the best movie to craft for an R rating. Regardless, the studio hasn’t released much about The New Mutants, Gambit or X-Force yet, and it isn’t immediately clear which will go before cameras first.

The latest update on X-Force came last month, when it was rumored that Bad Boys III director Joe Carnahan was coming aboard to direct X-Force, and that he is actually co-writing the screenplay with Deadpool and Deadpool 2 star Ryan Reynolds. That report was never confirmed by the studio, but if Joe Carnahan is in fact coming aboard, he’ll take over for Jeff Wadlow, who was announced as the project’s screenwriter back at Comic-Con 2013. It seems that the success of Deadpool helped bring X-Force out of development, and with a new director and writer reportedly on board, we could hear more about this project very soon.